Soviet Lieutenant General Ivan Ivanov Kravchenko

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks, Rick.

Much appreciated, every word of it.

[Gerd Becker]

Super nice group, Ed. Thanks for sharing

If you don?t have it yet, here is the Unit-History of the 116th Rifle Division:

formed on 13. January 1942 from the 457th Rifle Division in the Transbaikal Military District with:

441st Rifle Regiment

548th Rifle Regiment

656th Rifle Regiment

406th Artillery Regiment

246th Antitank Battalion

250th Sapper Battalion

178th Reconnaissance Battalion

The 457th had been formed late in 1941, so none of the elements of the 116th Rifle Division had been in existence in any form for more than three months, when it started west for the active front on 7. February 1942. By 2. March the division was arriving at Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, and on 23. March 1942 it was assigned to the 50th Army in the Western Front. It stayed there until August 1942, when the division was shipped south and added to the 1st Guards Army in the Stalingrad Front. By the end of September the division was moved to the Don Front, and it fought throughout the destruction of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad in the 66th Army of the Don Front. The 116th went into the STAVKA-Rerserves in February 1943 in the 66th Army. In early May 1943 the division was assigned to the 53rd Army in the Steppe District (later Steppe Front). On 3. August 1943 the 116th was in the first echelon aussault wave in the 53rd Army attack, that broke through to liberate Kharkov. In honor of this feat, on 23 August the division received the honorific title "Kharkovskaya". The division remained in the 53rd Army in the Steppe (after 20. October 2nd Ukrainian Front) until January 1944. During the fighting around the Korsun (Cherkassy) Pocket it shifted to the 5th Guards Army in the 2nd Ukrainian Front, and by the end of February 1944 the 116th became part of the 52nd Army in the 2nd Ukrainian Front. It remained part of the 52nd Army for the rest of the war. After a few weeks in the STAVKA Reserves in late September and October 1944, the 52nd was moved to the 1st Ukrainian Front, and the 116th Rifle Division ended the war in the 48th Rifle Corps in the 52nd Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

(sorry for the typos, did?t had a coffee yet)

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks, Gerd. I wish I had the brain cells left to learn Russian, for I am sure that going through the various autobiographies and reports in the file could fill in some interesting gaps in the story, but what you have given here helps tremendously in establishing the context.

[NavyFCO]

Ed:

Also, for a little more context, look at the other personnel file with the group. That is to his commanding general. Quite a famous character, who fought in both the Spanish Civil War (earning a Red Banner there) and the Patriotic War.

Lotsa good stuff....

Dave

[Ed_Haynes]

Which Academy badge is that? I can't read what it says on the shield.

Oops, somehow I missed your question. Sorry. The answer is easy: blank. Whazzat mean??

Unless someone helpes me with the badges, I shall post each, individually . . .

[Ed_Haynes]

See . . .

Has something fallen off??

[Stogieman]

Gee whiz! Looks like a nice, early silver one but I've never seen a blank either! I thought the tags were pronged through the back? Are the name tags applied individually to a backing plate?

[Ed_Haynes]

15.5.73-3.6.74 Representative of Supreme Commander of the Combined Armed Forces for Command of the Army in the Czechoslovakian National Army

Makes me wonder if his mystery final medal is Czech, but who knows . . . ?? Doesn't match anything I can find.

[Guest Rick Research]

Ed! That is very strange! The enamel letters have not been buffed OFF the Academy shield... it's smooth and uninscribed?

He graduated from the Frunze Military Academy after studying there 1949-52, so I'd expect him to have worn one with that designation on the shield. No reason (unlike the "Stalin Tank Academy" etc) for it to have been ... retroactively censored.

The shields were applied FOR the names-- I've never seen a blank SHIELD before. Normally such a badge would simply have NO shield. The award paperwork that came with these badges shows a blank shield-- but that is because they were generic forms.

Tis a mystery.

[Ed_Haynes]

Ed! That is very strange! The enamel letters have not been buffed OFF the Academy shield... it's smooth and uninscribed?

He graduated from the Frunze Military Academy after studying there 1949-52, so I'd expect him to have worn one with that designation on the shield. No reason (unlike the "Stalin Tank Academy" etc) for it to have been ... retroactively censored.

The shields were applied FOR the names-- I've never seen a blank SHIELD before. Normally such a badge would simply have NO shield. The award paperwork that came with these badges shows a blank shield-- but that is because they were generic forms.

Tis a mystery.

Yes, Rick, and we love mysteries, don't we! The shield, while tarnished, is absolutely smooth and shows no signs of any purge. And it is pretty high quality silver. I know almost nothing about these beasties, so I throw myself on the widsom of the forum.

[order_of_victory]

From what I have seen of these graduation badges they look like they engraved direct on the sheild

[order_of_victory]

Heres a close up of the sheild

[Guest Rick Research]

That appears to be a much later period badge... though I can count 7 Republics on the right side as viewed, all I get is SIX (which isn't right) on the left.

1950s silver ones with the 8/1/7 16 Republics 1946-56 State Seal:

[attachmentid=36427]

These all have black enamel filled letters. At top, a "normal" Frunze Academy graduates' badge of the type I'd have expected in this group.

[Mondvor]

Here is a somewhat better picture of this brave General.

[Mondvor]

Back of the foto.

[Guest Rick Research]

On behalf of Ed--who obviously hasn't SEEN that yet-- let me be the first to say

while singing the "It's A Small World After All" song!!!!

Now, he is wearing an Academy badge with a shield, but cannot tell if it is the Mysterious Blank or not.

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks, Mondvor. That is a clear version of the muddy photo I had a scan of.

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Thanks again.

[NavyFCO]

That's the EXACT photo from the personnel file! I wonder if the researcher who copied the record yanked the photo????? (If so, I'm pretty pissed... I've been offering a LOT of money for the photos from the personnel files, only to get the "they can't do that" reply...)

Anyway, would it be possible to get a 600/1200 dpi scan of the academy badge? I think we could probably adjust it to see what is on it in the photo, though staring at my screen, it does look blank from here.

One thing I do love about the photo is that he's wearing his "1st Horse Cavalry" badge which was supposed to be for veterans of the unit from the Civil War... I still wonder how he got that!

Dave

[Ed_Haynes]

One thing I do love about the photo is that he's wearing his "1st Horse Cavalry" badge which was supposed to be for veterans of the unit from the Civil War... I still wonder how he got that!

Watch it, Dave. You prompt me to start posting these badges for identification help! They constitute unknown territory to me!

And, yes, it is good to at least see a more detailed photo. (Should it ever be on the market . . . ???)

[Paul R]

That is a very impressive grouping.

I do have one question though... This is the second bar that I have seen where all of the "foreign" decorations had the same solid red ribbon, despite the medal/order not orignially having that ribbon color. Was there a reason for this?

Paul

[Ed_Haynes]

I suspect this is (1) just sloppy mounting, as they were foreign their ribbons may not have mattered or may not have been in stock, and (2) they'd be buried under overlapping Soviet rows upon rows anyway.

[Ed_Haynes]

OK, ignoring the common stuff shown in

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6207&st=5

above ("Common" = those I know ), here we go:

Badge 1

[Ed_Haynes]

Badge 2

Reverse mirror-imaged, plain.

[Ed_Haynes]

Badge 3

[Ed_Haynes]

Badge 4